January 2006

Home Sellers, Can Your Windows Pass the Test?

January 30, 2006

On Saturday I showed a house in Mount Prospect listed at $665,000 (shown left). During the showing my buyer did what I often see buyers do, she opened a window. I should say, she tried to open a window. Then I tried to open a window, and another and another. None of them would budge Click to continue...

“Skokie” & The $1.2M Teardown

January 29, 2006

Today’s Chicago Tribune has a good article on Skokie, a northern suburb close to the city. The article mentioned that CBS made a TV movie, “Skokie”, about the suburb and how it resisted Nazis who tried to march there in the 1970s. Since I haven’t seen the movie, I now have “Skokie” set on my Click to continue...

A Mortgage Pre-qualification is Worthless as Part of an Offer

January 28, 2006

One of my home buyers found a property a few days ago that he wanted to make an offer on. I told him that we needed to submit his mortgage pre-approval as part of the offer. Yesterday I received a call from someone at his mortgage company informing me that he would be faxing me Click to continue...

Chicago Condo Sales May Be Flat, But Home Inventories Fine

January 26, 2006

The Chicago Tribune reported today that Chicago condo sales went flat in December 2005. The article also mentioned a report by Goldman Sachs that said inventories of both single-family homes and condos in the U.S. “appear to be surging.” This is not the case in Chicago as the chart below illustrates. The chart is based Click to continue...

Your Real Estate Attorney Can Make or Break Your Home Purchase or Sale

January 25, 2006

Most home buyers and sellers don’t give a lot of thought to the selection of a real estate attorney, but they should. A good real estate attorney can help clients navigate the rough waters that can arise between contract acceptance and the closing of the sale. A poor real estate attorney can hinder negotiations causing Click to continue...

Does Your Real Estate Agent Know When to Keep Her Mouth Shut?

January 23, 2006

This afternoon I had a closing for a couple of buyers I had been working with. Normally, closings are pretty uneventful meetings, but the listing agent made this one I’ll remember! During the meeting she received a phone call and proceeded to take it in front of the rest of us. It didn’t take long Click to continue...

“REALTOR® Revenge” Prompts Open House Burglaries!

January 22, 2006

The Chicago Tribune’s Mary Umberger wrote in her real estate column today about an Australian woman who robbed 25 Melbourne-area residences during open houses. The woman claimed to have “built-up an intense hatred of real estate agents.” Ouch! For more details on the story visit WorldNetDaily. The story is a good reminder that whether you Click to continue...

New Home Sales vs. Resale Home Sales

January 21, 2006

I spent this afternoon showing homes in Grayslake, Waukegan and Gurnee to a couple of first-time buyers. Our last stop was a condo conversion (shown right). Even though condo conversions aren’t completely new development, their sales are more like new home sales than resale home sales. Here are some basic differences. SALES CONTRACTS Almost all Click to continue...

Can You Be a Successful “For Sale By Owner”?

January 20, 2006

The “Rain City Guide”, a Seattle real estate blog has a good article today, “Should you do For Sale by Owner (FSBO)?“. I was struck by the story of the agent who wrote it. Like myself, he successfully sold his home himself before he became a REALTOR®. He notes that you need “time, patience, and Click to continue...

Living on the Edge of Roscoe Village

January 19, 2006

This evening I researched a condo in the Roscoe Village Neighborhood of Chicago that a friend of mine is thinking of buying it. It’s advertised as being “in the heart of Roscoe Village” which is incorrect since it’s on Belmont and Belmont is the southern border of Roscoe Village. The other borders are Ravenswood on Click to continue...

NBC 5 Incorrectly Reports Falling Home Prices

January 18, 2006

I almost choked on my dinner while watching the early evening NBC 5 News today. They did a report on the percent of last year’s home buyers who chose financing with no money down (42%). They also went on to mention that this could be risky due to “falling home prices”! Home prices are not Click to continue...

Propsect Heights, IL – Small Suburb with Big Lots

January 16, 2006

Today I showed a ranch home (shown right) in Prospect Heights listed at $650K. It has good sized bedrooms and a large lot in the Lake Claire Estates subdivision (very nice homes in a very quiet neighborhood). Prospect Heights with a population of around 17,000 and less than 5 square miles in area is squeezed Click to continue...

Use a REALTOR® to Find a REALTOR®

January 14, 2006

This morning I found a REALTOR® to help the daughter of a friend of mine who is moving to Indiana. The daughter was offered a job promotion opportunity there and is now scrambling to sell her house in Missouri and find temporary housing before her new job starts in a week. If you’re moving to Click to continue...

Mortgage Rescue Fraud Prevention Act Introduced

January 13, 2006

The Chicago Tribune reported today that the Mortgage Rescue Fraud Prevention Act was introduced in the Illinois State Legislature yesterday. The bill is an effort to deter “con artists who promise to bail out cash-strapped families, but often end up taking their homes instead.” In addition to con artists, there are also mortgage companies that Click to continue...

HouseTracker: Track Housing Inventories & Asking Prices

January 12, 2006

If you like to track Chicago area real estate trends, check out HousingTracker, a website by Ben Engebreth that shows weekly housing inventories and asking prices. The site includes data for the city of Chicago and collar suburbs. According to the site, inventory dropped from 29,010 homes on the market on 8/14/05 to 23,268 this Click to continue...

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